1. The formation of Galileo's views in the light of history

2. Galileo as the founder of the experimental-mathematical method of studying nature

Conclusion

Bibliographic list

Introduction

In the middle of the 16th century, the humanism of the Platonic school in Italy passed its zenith, its main time was gone. In the second half of the 16th and early 17th centuries a specific philosophical area enters the scene - the philosophy of nature. The philosophy of nature is a typical expression of the nature of the Renaissance. Her homeland was Italy, the most famous representative of Giordano Bruno. In parallel with the philosophy of nature, a new natural science is developing, realizing a radical reassessment of old traditions and premises. It brings a number of epoch-making discoveries and becomes one of the most important sources of new philosophy. The philosophical and methodological foundations of science that prevailed in the Middle Ages are being discarded, and new ones are being created. The scholastic doctrine of nature, the highest level of which was reached by the Parisian and Oxford schools in the fourteenth century, in essence, never crossed the boundaries of theoretical speculation. In contrast, Renaissance scientists put forward experience, the study of nature, the experimental method of research. A prominent place is won by mathematics, the principle of mathematization of science corresponds to the main progressive trends in the development of science, scientific and philosophical thinking.

New trends in science were reflected in the works of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) and Galileo Galilei (1546-1642).

The most important battlefield on which the battle between the new and the old world, between the conservative and progressive forces of society, religion and science, was astronomy. Medieval religious doctrine was based on the idea of ​​the Earth as a planet chosen by God and of the privileged position of man in the universe. Studying astronomical objects, scientists of that time in practice comprehended the laws of motion of celestial bodies and laid the foundation for the development of another science - physics. One of the founders of the fundamental laws of physics was Galileo Galilei.

In the presented work, we give brief biographical information about the scientist, and also reveal his views on the natural world in philosophical and scientific terms, since scientists of that time, knowing the world of nature and comprehending it philosophically, made deep scientific conclusions based on the logical methods of philosophy they used. .

1. Brief biographical note

The founder of the experimental-mathematical method of studying nature was the great Italian scientist Galileo Galilei (1564-1642). Leonardo da Vinci gave only outlines of such a method of studying nature, while Galileo left a detailed presentation of this method and formulated the most important principles of the mechanical world.

Galileo was born into the family of an impoverished nobleman in the city of Pisa on February 15, 1564 (near Florence) in a noble but impoverished family. The scientist’s father was a composer and musician, but it was scarce to live on the proceeds, and the latter worked part-time as a cloth trader. Until the age of 11, Galileo studied at a regular school, but after the family moved to Florence, he began studying at a school at the Benedictines monastery, and at the age of 17 he entered to the University of Pisa and began to prepare for the profession of a doctor. The first scientific work of Galileo "Small hydrostatic scales" was published in 1586 and it brought some fame to Galileo among scientists. On the recommendation of one of them, Guido Ubalde del Monte, Galilei received the chair of mathematics at the University of Pisa in 1589 and became a professor at the age of 25.

Galileo taught students mathematics and astronomy in accordance with the teachings of Ptolemy, and his experiments, which he set, throwing various bodies from the Leaning Tower of Pisa, to see if they fall in accordance with the teachings of Aristotle, belong to the same period of time - heavy faster than light. The answer turned out to be negative.

In On Motion, published in 1590, Galileo criticized the Aristotelian doctrine of the fall of bodies. Galileo's criticism of Aristotle's views caused discontent and the scientist accepted the offer to take the chair of mathematics at the University of Padua. Biographers of the scientist noted the Padua period as the most fruitful and happy in his life. Here Galileo found a family by marrying Marina Gamba and had two daughters: Virginia (1600), Livia (1601) and son Vincenzo (1606). In 1606, Galileo became interested in astronomy

For the triumph of the theory of Copernicus and the ideas expressed by Giordano Bruno, and consequently for the progress of the materialistic worldview in general, the astronomical discoveries made by Galileo with the help of the telescope he designed were of great importance. He discovered craters and ridges on the Moon (in his mind - "mountains" and "seas"), made out countless clusters of stars that form the Milky Way, saw satellites, Jupiter, saw spots on the Sun, etc. Thanks to these discoveries, Galileo acquired the pan-European fame of "Columbus of the sky." The astronomical discoveries of Galileo, primarily the satellites of Jupiter, became a clear proof of the truth of the heliocentric theory of Copernicus, and the phenomena observed on the Moon, which seemed to be a planet quite similar to the Earth, and spots on the Sun confirmed Bruno's idea of ​​the physical homogeneity of the Earth and sky. The discovery of the stellar composition of the Milky Way was an indirect proof of the innumerability of worlds in the Universe. Galileo's work on astronomy in March 1610 he published in his work "Starry Herald", and this was the beginning of his new life. Tuscan Duke Cosimo 11 Medici offered Galileo to become a court mathematician and he accepted the offer, returning to live in Florence.

These discoveries of Galileo marked the beginning of his fierce polemics with the scholastics and churchmen who defended the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic picture of the world. If until now the Catholic Church, for the reasons stated above, was forced to endure the views of those scientists who recognized the theory of Copernicus as one of the hypotheses, and its ideologists believed that it was impossible to prove this hypothesis, now that this evidence has appeared, the Roman Church makes a decision to prohibit the propaganda of the views of Copernicus, even as a hypothesis, and the book of Copernicus itself is included in the "List of Forbidden Books" (1616). All this put Galileo's activities in jeopardy, but he continued to work on improving the proofs of the truth of the Copernican theory. In this regard, Galileo's work in the field of mechanics also played an enormous role. While still a student, Galileo Galilei observed in the cathedral of Pisa that chandeliers of different sizes and weights, but having the same length, also have the same periods of oscillation. He compared chandeliers with a pendulum and on the basis of this he concluded that the period of oscillation of the pendulum will be the longer, the longer the pendulum will be. Since at that time mechanical clocks had not yet been invented to measure time, Galileo used the beats of his own pulse to determine the period of oscillation.

The scholastic physics that dominated this era, based on superficial observations and speculative calculations, was littered with ideas about the movement of things in accordance with their "nature" and purpose, about the natural heaviness and lightness of bodies, about the "fear of emptiness", about the perfection of circular motion, and others. unscientific conjectures that are intertwined in a tangled knot with religious dogmas and biblical myths. Galileo, through a series of brilliant experiments, gradually unraveled it and created the most important branch of mechanics - dynamics, i.e. the doctrine of the movement of bodies.

Already since 1616, Galileo was accused of striving for heresy, since 11 theologians recognized the teachings of Copernicus as false this year and Copernicus's book "On the Conversion of the Celestial Spheres" was included in the index of banned books, respectively, any propaganda of the teachings of Copernicus was prohibited.

In 1623, under the name of Urban V111, Galileo's friend Cardinal Maffeo Barberini became pope and Galileo hoped for the abolition of the above ban, but having received a refusal, he returned to Florence. There Galileo continued to work on his book Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief Systems of the World, and in 1632 it was published. The release of the book caused a sharp reaction from the church and the scientist was summoned to Rome. In one of his letters, Galileo wrote: “I arrived in Rome on February 10, 1633 and relied on the mercy of the Inquisition and the Holy Father .... First I was locked up in the Trinity castle on the mountain, and the next day the Commissioner of the Inquisition visited me and took me away in his carriage. On the way, he asked me various questions and expressed the wish that I stop the scandal caused in Italy by my discovery regarding the movement of the earth ... To all the mathematical evidence that I could oppose to him, he answered me with words from the Holy Scriptures: “The earth was and will be immovable forever and ever."

The investigation into the Galileo case dragged on from April to June 1633, and on June 22, Galileo delivered the text of the renunciation before the court of the Inquisition, and after that he was sent to his villa. while under house arrest, Galileo writes "Conversations and Mathematical Proofs Concerning Two New Fields of Science", where, in particular, he sets out the basics of dynamics (the law of free fall, the law of addition of displacements, the doctrine of the resistance of materials), but the book is refused to be printed and it is published only in Holland in July 1638, however, the blind scientist could not see his work with his own eyes, but could only feel it with his hands.

In November 1979, Pope John Paul 11 ​​officially admitted that the Inquisition in 1633 against the scientist made a mistake by forcing him to forcefully renounce the theory of Copernicus.

“Exceptional fortitude was required to extract the laws of nature from specific phenomena that were always before everyone’s eyes, but the explanation of which nevertheless eluded the inquisitive gaze of philosophers,” the famous French mathematician and astronomer Lagrange wrote about Galilee.

Discoveries of Galileo Galilei in astronomy

In 1609, Galileo Galilei independently built his first telescope with a convex lens and a concave eyepiece. At first, his telescope gave a magnification of about 3 times. Soon he managed to build a telescope giving a magnification of 32 times. The term itself telescope also introduced into science by Galileo (at the suggestion of Federico Cesi). A number of discoveries made by Galileo with a telescope contributed to the approval heliocentric system of the world, which Galileo actively promoted, and the refutation of the views of the geocentrists Aristotle and Ptolemy.

Galileo's telescope had one converging lens as an objective, and a diverging lens served as an eyepiece. Such an optical scheme gives an uninverted (terrestrial) image. The main disadvantages of the Galilean telescope are the very small field of view. Such a system is still used in theater binoculars, and sometimes in homemade amateur telescopes.

Galileo made the first telescopic observations of celestial bodies on January 7, 1610. They showed that the Moon, like the Earth, has a complex relief - covered with mountains and craters. Known since ancient times, Galileo explained the ashen light of the Moon as the result of sunlight reflected by the Earth hitting it. All this refuted Aristotle's teaching about the opposition of "earthly" and "heavenly": the Earth became a body of essentially the same nature as the heavenly bodies, and this served as an indirect argument in favor of the Copernican system: if the other planets move, then it is natural to assume that the Earth also moves. Galileo also discovered libration Moon (its slow oscillation) and quite accurately estimated the height of the lunar mountains.

The planet Venus appeared to Galileo in the telescope not as a brilliant point, but as a bright crescent, similar to the moon.

The most interesting thing was the observation of the bright planet Jupiter. Through the telescope, Jupiter seemed to the astronomer no longer a bright point, but rather a large circle. Near this circle in the sky there were three stars, and a week later Galileo discovered the fourth star.

Looking at the picture, one might wonder why Galileo did not immediately discover all four satellites: after all, they are so clearly visible in the photograph! But we must remember that Galileo's telescope was very weak. It turned out that all four stars not only follow Jupiter in its movements across the sky, but also revolve around this large planet. So, four moons were found at Jupiter at once - four satellites. Thus, Galileo refuted one of the arguments of the opponents of heliocentrism: the Earth cannot revolve around the Sun, since the Moon revolves around it. After all, Jupiter obviously had to revolve either around the Earth (as in the geocentric system) or around the Sun (as in the heliocentric one). Galileo observed the period of revolution of these satellites for a year and a half, but the accuracy of the estimate was achieved only in Newton's epoch. Galileo suggested using observations of the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites to solve the most important problem of determining longitude at sea. He himself was unable to develop an implementation of this approach, although he worked on it until the end of his life; Cassini (1681) was the first to succeed, but due to the difficulties of observing at sea, Galileo's method was used mainly by land expeditions, and after the invention of the marine chronometer (mid-18th century), the problem was closed.

Galileo also discovered (independently of Fabricius and Harriot) sunspots(dark areas on the Sun, the temperature of which is lowered by about 1500 K compared to the surrounding areas).

The existence of spots and their constant variability disproved Aristotle's thesis about the perfection of the heavens (as opposed to the "sublunar world"). Based on their observations, Galileo concluded that The sun rotates around its axis, estimated the period of this rotation and the position of the axis of the sun.

Galileo also established that Venus changes phases. On the one hand, this proved that it shines with the reflected light of the Sun (about which there was no clarity in the astronomy of the previous period). On the other hand, the order of phase change corresponded to the heliocentric system: in Ptolemy's theory, Venus, as the "lower" planet, was always closer to the Earth than the Sun, and "full Venus" was impossible.

Galileo also noted the strange "appendages" of Saturn, but the opening of the ring was prevented by the weakness of the telescope. 50 years later, the ring of Saturn was discovered and described by Huygens, who had a 92x telescope at his disposal.

Galileo argued that when viewed through a telescope, the planets are visible as disks, the apparent dimensions of which in various configurations change in such a ratio as follows from the theory of Copernicus. However, the diameter of the stars during observations with a telescope does not increase. This disproved the estimates of the apparent and real size of the stars, which were used by some astronomers as an argument against the heliocentric system.

The Milky Way, which to the naked eye looks like a continuous glow, was revealed to Galileo in the form of individual stars, which confirmed Democritus' conjecture, and a huge number of previously unknown stars became visible.

Galileo wrote the book Dialogue Concerning the Two Systems of the World, in which he explained in detail why he accepted the system of Copernicus and not Ptolemy. The main provisions of this dialogue are as follows:

• Venus and Mercury never find themselves in opposition, which means that they revolve around the Sun, and their orbit passes between the Sun and the Earth.
• Mars has opposition. From the analysis of changes in brightness during the movement of Mars, Galileo concluded that this planet also revolves around the Sun, but in this case the Earth is located inside its orbits. He made similar conclusions for Jupiter and Saturn.

It remains to choose between two systems of the world: the Sun (with planets) revolves around the Earth or the Earth revolves around the Sun. The observed pattern of planetary motions is the same in both cases, which guarantees principle of relativity formulated by Galileo himself. Therefore, additional arguments are needed for the choice, among which Galileo cites greater simplicity and naturalness of the Copernican model (however, he rejected Kepler's system with elliptical orbits of the planets).

Galileo explained why the earth's axis does not rotate when the earth revolves around the sun; To explain this phenomenon, Copernicus introduced a special "third motion" of the Earth. Galileo showed by experience that the axis of a freely moving top keeps its direction by itself("Letters to Ingoli"):

“A similar phenomenon is evidently found in any body that is in a freely suspended state, as I have shown to many; yes, and you yourself can verify this by placing a floating wooden ball in a vessel with water, which you will take in your hands, and then, stretching them out, begin to rotate around yourself; you will see how this ball will rotate around itself in the opposite direction to your rotation; it will complete its full revolution at the same time as you complete yours."

Galileo made a serious mistake, believing that the phenomenon of tides proves the rotation of the Earth around its axis. But he gives other serious arguments in favor of the daily rotation of the Earth:

• It is difficult to agree that the entire Universe makes a daily revolution around the Earth (especially given the enormous distances to the stars); it is more natural to explain the observed picture by the rotation of one Earth. The synchronous participation of the planets in the daily rotation would also violate the observed pattern, according to which the farther the planet is from the Sun, the slower it moves.
• Even the huge Sun has axial rotation.

To prove the rotation of the Earth, Galileo suggests mentally imagining that a cannon shell or a falling body deviates slightly from the vertical during the fall, but his calculation shows that this deviation is negligible.

Galileo also made the correct observation that the rotation of the Earth must influence the dynamics of the winds. All these effects were discovered much later.

Other Achievements of Galileo Galilei

He also invented:

• Hydrostatic balance for determining the specific gravity of solids.
• The first thermometer, still without a scale (1592).
• Proportional compass used in drafting (1606).
• Microscope (1612); with it, Galileo studied insects.

The circle of his interests was very wide: Galileo was also engaged in optics, acoustics, color theory and magnetism, hydrostatics(science that studies the balance of liquids), resistance of materials, problems of fortification(military science of artificial closures and barriers). Tried to measure the speed of light. He empirically measured the density of air and gave a value of 1/400 (compare: Aristotle has 1/10, the true modern value is 1/770).

Galileo also formulated the law of the indestructibility of matter.

Having become acquainted with all the achievements of Galileo Galilei in science, it is impossible not to be interested in his personality. Therefore, we will tell about the main stages of his life path.

From the biography of Galileo Galilei

The future Italian scientist (physicist, mechanic, astronomer, philosopher and mathematician) was born in 1564 in Pisa. As you already know, he is the author of outstanding astronomical discoveries. But his adherence to the heliocentric system of the world led to serious conflicts with the Catholic Church, which made his life very difficult.

He was born into a noble family, his father was a famous musician and music theorist. His passion for art was also passed on to his son: Galileo was engaged in music and drawing, and also had a literary talent.

Education

He received his primary education in the monastery closest to his home, studied all his life with great eagerness - at the University of Pisa he studied medicine, at the same time he was fond of geometry. He studied at the university for only about 3 years - his father could no longer pay for his son's studies, but the news of the talented young man reached the highest officials, he was patronized by the Marquis del Monte and the Tuscan Duke Ferdinand I of Medici.

Scientific activity

Galileo later taught at the University of Pisa and then at the more prestigious University of Padua, where his most prolific academic years began. Here he is actively engaged in astronomy - he invents his first own telescope. The four satellites of Jupiter he discovered, he named after the sons of his patron Medici (now they are called the Galilean satellites). Galileo described the first discoveries with a telescope in his essay “The Starry Herald”, this book became a real bestseller of its time, and the inhabitants of Europe hastily acquired telescopes for themselves. Galileo becomes the most famous scientist in Europe, odes are composed in his honor, where he is compared with Columbus.

During these years, Galileo enters into a civil marriage, in which he has a son and two daughters.

Of course, such people, in addition to adherents, always have enough ill-wishers, Galileo did not escape this either. Especially ill-wishers were outraged by his propaganda of the heliocentric system of worlds, because a detailed justification for the concept of the Earth's immobility and refutation of hypotheses about its rotation was contained in Aristotle's treatise "On the Sky" and in Ptolemy's "Almagest".

In 1611, Galileo decided to go to Rome to convince Pope Paul V that the ideas of Copernicus were fully compatible with Catholicism. He was well received, he showed them his telescope, giving careful and circumspect explanations. The cardinals created a commission to find out if it was a sin to look at the sky through a trumpet, but they came to the conclusion that it was permissible. Roman astronomers openly discussed the question of whether Venus moves around the Earth or around the Sun (the change in the phases of Venus clearly spoke in favor of the second option).

But denunciations to the Inquisition began. And when Galileo in 1613 Galileo published the book "Letters on Sunspots", in which he openly spoke in favor of the Copernican system, the Roman Inquisition began the first case against Galileo on charges of heresy. The last mistake of Galileo was the call to Rome to express its final attitude towards the teachings of Copernicus. Then the Catholic Church decided to ban his teaching with the explanation that " the church does not object to the interpretation of Copernicanism as a convenient mathematical device, but accepting it as a reality would mean admitting that the previous, traditional interpretation of the biblical text was erroneous».

March 5, 1616 Rome officially defines heliocentrism as a dangerous heresy. The book of Copernicus was banned.

The church ban on heliocentrism, in the truth of which Galileo was convinced, was unacceptable to the scientist. He began to think about how, without formally violating the ban, to continue the defense of the truth. And I decided to publish a book containing a neutral discussion of different points of view. He wrote this book for 16 years, collecting materials, honing his arguments and waiting for the right moment. Finally (in 1630) it was finished, this book - "Dialogue about the two main systems of the world - Ptolemaic and Copernican" , but was published only in 1632. The book is written in the form of a dialogue between three lovers of science: a Copernican, a neutral participant and an adherent of Aristotle and Ptolemy. Although there are no authorial conclusions in the book, the strength of the arguments in favor of the Copernican system speaks for itself. But in the neutral participant, the Pope recognized himself and his arguments and was furious. A few months later, the book was banned and withdrawn from sale, and Galileo was summoned to Rome for the trial of the Inquisition on suspicion of heresy. After the first interrogation, he was taken into custody. There is an opinion that torture was used against him, that Galileo was threatened with death, he was interrogated in the torture chamber, where terrible tools were laid out in front of the prisoner's eyes: leather funnels through which a huge amount of water was poured into the human stomach, iron boots (they screwed legs of the tortured), tongs that broke bones ...

In any case, he was faced with a choice: either he would repent and renounce his "delusions", or he would suffer the fate of Giordano Bruno. He could not bear the threats and retracted his work.

But Galileo remained a prisoner of the Inquisition until his death. He was strictly forbidden to talk to anyone about the motion of the Earth. Nevertheless, Galileo secretly worked on an essay in which he asserted the truth about the Earth and the heavenly bodies. After the verdict, Galileo was settled in one of the Medici villas, and five months later he was allowed to go home, and he settled in Arcetri, next to the monastery where his daughters were. Here he spent the rest of his life under house arrest and under the constant supervision of the Inquisition.

Some time later, after the death of his beloved daughter, Galileo completely lost his sight, but continued his scientific research, relying on faithful students, among whom was Torricelli. Only once, shortly before his death, the Inquisition allowed the blind and seriously ill Galileo to leave Arcetri and settle in Florence for treatment. At the same time, under pain of prison, he was forbidden to leave the house and discuss the "damned opinion" about the movement of the Earth.

Galileo Galilei died on January 8, 1642, at the age of 78, in his bed. They buried him in Archetri without honors, the Pope also did not allow him to erect a monument.

Later, the only grandson of Galileo also took the monastic vows and burned the priceless manuscripts of the scientist that he kept as ungodly. He was the last representative of the Galilean family.

Afterword

In 1737, the ashes of Galileo, as he requested, were transferred to the Basilica of Santa Croce, where on March 17 he was solemnly buried next to Michelangelo.

In 1835, books that advocated heliocentrism were struck off the list of banned books.

From 1979 to 1981, at the initiative of Pope John Paul II, a commission for the rehabilitation of Galileo worked, and on October 31, 1992, Pope John Paul II officially recognized that the Inquisition had made a mistake in 1633, forcing the scientist to renounce the theory of Copernicus by force.

February 15 this year marks the 447th anniversary of the birth of one of the founders of modern exact natural science, the outstanding Italian physicist Galileo Galilei. It is from him that physics, as a science, originates.

But first he wanted to devote his life to medicine, enrolling in 1581 at the University of Pisa. But, having read the works of Archimedes and Euclid, he left the university and studied mathematics on his own for four years. Already in 1582, while observing pendulums, Galileo discovered the law of isochronism - the independence of the period of oscillation of a pendulum from the swing of oscillations and the mass of the load - and put forward the idea of ​​using pendulums in clocks. Having applied mathematics not only to mechanics, but also to hydrostatics, in 1586 he invented hydrostatic balances, which were used in weighing precious metals and their alloys.

In the next 20 years, he experimentally and theoretically established the basic principles of mechanics. First of all, this is the principle of relativity for rectilinear and uniform motion and the principle of constancy of acceleration under the action of gravity. The first principle later led Newton to the concept of an inertial frame of reference, and the second to the concept of an inertial mass. And Einstein, having extended Galileo's principle of relativity to all physical processes (in particular, to light), and interpreting his second principle as the equivalence of the forces of inertia and gravity, created the general theory of relativity.

In 1609 Galileo creates his first telescope and begins systematic astronomical observations. He discovers mountains on the moon, four moons of Jupiter.
Discovers that the Milky Way is made up of many stars. Opens a spot on the sun and its rotation, the phases of Venus. These astronomical discoveries bring Galileo and his telescope such wide popularity that he even establishes the production of telescopes. And in 1610-14, combining and selecting the distance between the lenses, he invents a microscope. These two devices served as a powerful tool for scientific research in subsequent centuries.

And Galileo himself investigated the nature of light, color, dealt with issues of physical optics.
He formulated the idea of ​​the finiteness of the speed of propagation of light, and conducted experiments to determine it.

The astronomical discoveries of Galileo were summarized by him in the treatise "Dialogue on the two main systems of the world" published in 1632, which practically confirmed the correctness of Copernicus's doctrine of the heliocentric system of the world. This book infuriated churchmen. The Inquisition imposed a ban on the book, and in 1633 Galileo himself was forced to renounce his views and excommunicated. In the same church where Giordano Bruno, who had not renounced his views, was sentenced to be burned in 1600, Galileo, on his knees, pronounced the text of the renunciation offered to him.
Galileo Galilei died on January 8, 1642 at the age of 78. He was buried without honors and tombstone. In 1737, after 95 years, his ashes were transferred to Florence, to the church of Santa Croce. And in 1992, only 350 years after the death of Galileo, Pope John Paul II, after the work of a special commission, recognized the heliocentric system of the world and dropped the charges against the great scientist.

A brief biography of Galileo Galilei and his discoveries are interesting for both schoolchildren and adults. This is a scientist whose activities gave impetus to the development of science, physics, mathematics, astronomy and other fields.

In the article we will tell in detail about who Galileo Galilei is, what he is famous for, what contribution he made to science and what he discovered, what main astronomical discoveries were put into practice, and what heliocentrism is.

short biography

Galileo Galilei (Galileo Galilei) - a great man ( years of life 1564-1642), who achieved success in astronomy, physics, mathematics, philosophy and mechanics.

Born in Pisa (Italy) in a family rich in origin, but poor in terms of property. At the age of 10, he began to study at the monastery of Vallombrosa in the same country and studied there for 7 years until he went to get a higher education. Then he became a student at the University of Pisa, studied at the Faculty of Medicine and acquired the title of professor.

In 1592 he was admitted to the chair of mathematics as dean of the University of Padua, a rich and prestigious institution of higher education in the Republic of Venice. There he produced his greatest mathematical and physical works.

His first work about the discovery of the telescope was described in the "Star Herald". From that moment on, Galileo began to actively explore all facets of human life and nature.

With the help of a telescope, he studies the stars and planets, describes their structure and movement, deduces new physical and mathematical laws, and also acts as a philosopher, criticizing natural norms and customs.

For his reasoning and popularization of the theory of Copernicus, which is in dissonance with Holy Scripture, he was persecuted all his life by a group of the Inquisition. In 1633, he was even sentenced to prison, but released 18 days later.

The Italian explorer, mechanic, philosopher and physicist spent the last years in his own villa. He was forbidden to publish works, but Galileo wrote them at home, in his homeland. In 1637 he went blind, but before that he created the last book in which he summarized all his observations and discoveries.

The great scientist died in 1642 in his house and was buried as a simple man. Already in 1737, his grave was moved and placed next to Michelangelo. After a while, the publications of the scientist began to be published. Ultimately, Galileo Galilei was rehabilitated only in 1992.

Philosophy of Galileo Galilei

Galileo, like his contemporaries, professed the theory of two truths, one of which was laid down in Holy Scripture, and the second in the book of nature, which describes divine creations.

Despite his adherence to these ideas, he interpreted them differently, taking an anti-scholastic position. The Bible, in his opinion, should not be taken literally. It must be taken from an allegorical point of view. Nature, on the other hand, must be studied outside the Bible, otherwise there will be no benefit from such a study.

When studying nature, one must be guided by two main methods of knowledge:

• analytical;
• synthetic.

Exploring nature, the scientist believed that reliable knowledge can be obtained by combining such methods. At the same time, he said that experience is not reliable knowledge. So, the scientist made a conclusion about the method of researching science, consisting of observation with the promotion of a hypothesis, calculations and experimental verification of the put forward idea.

Scientific activity

Galileo Galilei was a great Italian scientist. From his student years, he comprehended the basics of physics, exact natural science, astronomy, mechanics and philosophy. He actively studied the philosophical reasoning of Copernicus, was a fighter against church scholasticism, created a telescope to study the heavenly bodies and start a new era in the field of astronomy.

With his invention and subsequent entry in scientific books, the scientist proved to the world about the presence of mountains with valleys on the surface of the moon. By this, he proved the wrong of previous scientists that all celestial bodies are round and smooth.

Galileo also refuted the religious legend about the nature of the sky. He managed to discover four satellites of Jupiter, study the movement of Venus and find the solar rotation along the axis, explain what dark spots on the Sun and the Milky Way are.

Galileo proved that there is a geographic longitude and that it can be studied from Jupiter and its satellites. In addition, he is the founder of dynamics, the law of inertia with free fall of bodies, studied the oscillations of a pendulum, the movement of bodies and the addition of forces.

Main ideas and discoveries

The main idea of ​​Galileo is the objective existence of the world and its divine origin. He also admitted the thought of indestructible truth and recognized the composition of each material - the presence of atoms in them. He made his main discoveries in the field of astronomy, physics and mathematics.

Astronomy

At the age of 45, the researcher was able to make his first own telescope. He created a convex lens with a concave eyepiece. At first, his device made it possible to enlarge the image three times.

Then the scientist built a more perfect model, which increased by 32 times and introduced the term "telescope".

Later, with the help of a new device, he was able to heliocentrically explore the world system and refute the views and laws of Aristotle and Ptolemy on the motion of the planets, lunar vibrations, the rotation of the Earth and the Sun around themselves, spots on the Sun and the uneven surface of all cosmic planets and bodies.

Physics

Studying in more detail the biography of Galileo, it should be noted that in the field of physics he created several mechanical principles: the principle of relativity and the principle of constancy in the acceleration of gravity.

Galileo also discovered a constant period of oscillations with the addition of movements, inertia, free fall, the movement of bodies on an inclined plane, the movement of bodies that are thrown at an angle.

Maths

In mathematics, the scientist contributed to the theory of probability. In addition, he managed to make the basis of the multiple theory about natural numbers with squares.

In Conversations and Mathematical Proofs of Two New Sciences, Galileo described several thoughts about prime numbers. The first said that some of them are squares of integers, while others do not have such a property at all.

In the second, it was about the fact that in each prime number there is an exact square and for it there is a root, therefore there are the same number of exact square numbers with prime numbers.

Inventions of Galileo Galilei

In addition to the above inventions, Galileo was able to invent a hydrostatic type of balance to determine the specific gravity of substances, a thermometer with a proportional compass for drawing, a microscope for studying insectivores, an optical type of lenses.

Galileo's microscope

He also actively studied acoustics with color theory, magnetism, hydrostatics, fortification, measurement of light speed with air density.

The value of the discovery for the development of science

Galileo is the founder of many bold ideas and discoveries, the significance of which is great. He gained fame and began to be called the celestial Columbus due to his cosmic discoveries, four Jupiter satellites, sunspots, lunar troughs, physical terrestrial and celestial uniformity.

Interestingly, thanks to the discovery of the Milky Way, countless universal worlds have been proven.

The development of science has found its own recognition. Of great importance were his discovered laws, the creation of a telescope, the proof of the correctness of Copernicus' hypotheses.

In addition, through his contributions to scientific methodology, further physical, astronomical and mathematical researchers emerged. If his contemporaries were guided by Aristotle and classified phenomena, then Galileo created quantitative types of observations, carefully measured natural phenomena and applied the empirical method of scientific knowledge of nature.

He was the first of all to insist that scientists must conduct experiments, expressing their theories, and not relying on the opinions of other authorities.

In addition, thanks to his philosophical discoveries and religiosity, despite the fact that he was condemned by the church, he did not renounce the faith, but only opposed the church's interference in scientific discussions.

The scientist sharply separated scientific knowledge from religious and argued that nature cannot be studied according to biblical laws, but only with the help of mathematical and physical laws and experiments. In addition, during this study, a person must rely on his reason. It is because of this that in centuries to come people will begin to admire the scientist and consider him a symbol of the Protestants.

It should also be noted that the principle of relativity has brought great importance to science. Now time and space were not considered independently of each other, but were studied in a spatial four-dimensional continuum.

Thanks to his reflections and discoveries, Galileo even made star horoscopes and foresaw the future. Interestingly, he saw from them that he would soon become blind. And so it happened.

The whole life of Galileo Galilei is a series of interesting and amazing observations and facts.

Let's highlight the most striking of them to make a full-fledged portrait of the hero:

1. When Galileo created a book in which he talked about the Sun and the Earth, he was condemned by the Inquisition. She haunted him all her life.
2. Galileo was accused that the Bible began to lose authority. Because of this, in particular, his works were forbidden to be published during his lifetime. Many of them were published after his death, when Galileo was acquitted.
3. Despite the persecution and persecution of the Inquisition, Galileo did not give up his beliefs and was a good Catholic, as he called himself.
4. There is evidence that Galileo was tortured by church authorities, but this claim is still disputed.
5. Galileo did not utter many of the phrases attributed to him, in particular the phrase "And yet she is spinning!".
6. Galileo was the first to criticize prominent scientists of that time, for example, Aristotle, and changed the attitude towards his ideas in practice.
7. Galileo is a descendant of an impoverished well-known noble family. Despite the fact that his family was of noble origin, they had as much money as the peasants.
8. When the scientist left school, he wanted to become a priest, but his father was against it and sent him to study at the university.
9. In addition to being known as a scientist, Galileo was also a good poet. He wrote many unique beautiful poems.
10. Galileo never married, but he had three children with the same woman. Her name was Marina Gamba.
11. For a long period of time, no one wanted to recognize his discoveries in the field of physics and astronomy because of their contradiction to established canons.
12. Many films have been made about the scientist for children and adults, including about his views and experiences.

In general, Galileo Galilei is one of the prominent scientists of his time, who made a great contribution to science and philosophy, devoting his whole life to them. His creations are invaluable, they allowed scientists to continue their exploration of space, physics and mathematics further.